Macron censures Netanyahu’s Gaza policy, considers EU sanctions

French President Emmanuel Macron has strongly denounced Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Gaza policy as “unacceptable” and “shameful.”

In a recent interview with TF1 television, Macron said Netanyahu’s policy regarding the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza was shameful.

He said Europeans should consider increasing sanctions against Israel.

“What the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is doing is unacceptable… There is no water, no medicine, the wounded cannot get out, the doctors cannot get in. What he is doing is shameful,” Macron said.

Macron said he had visited the border between Egypt and Gaza earlier this year, where he saw that “all the aid that France and other countries deliver” is “blocked by the Israelis.”

“This is an unacceptable humanitarian tragedy,” he said.

“My job is to do everything I can to make it stop,” he added, saying that the possibility of revisiting the European Union’s cooperation agreements with Israel is on the table.

But Macron added that only Washington can apply decisive pressure on Israel.

“We need the United States. President (Donald) Trump has the levers. I have had tough words with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I got angry, but they (Israel) don’t depend on us, they depend on American weapons,” he said.

“It is not up to a president of the republic to say ‘this is a genocide,’ but rather to historians.”

United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher recently delivered a scathing account of Israel’s actions in Gaza, demanding that Israel lift its aid blockade on Gaza and “prevent genocide” in the Palestinian territory.

Last week, Macron warned that Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza may be in breach of international humanitarian law.

The European Union’s foreign affairs chief earlier said that the EU is preparing to formally deliberate on a potential reassessment of its Association Agreement with Israel, following growing concerns over Israel’s conduct in the Gaza conflict.

No food has been allowed into Gaza for more than two months, as Israel presses its devastating blockade of the strip.

Israel has admitted to withholding food, water, and other life-sustaining supplies from Gaza as a pressure tactic against Palestinian resistance groups.